I finished the shawl except for blocking and sewing in an end or two. Pictures of that tomorrow. Until then here is the beginning of NE to make a pair. This is a shot of the back pattern. I figure that if I knit one sock after every item I knit I should easily have 7 pairs by years end. I do worry that work schedule may thwart this grand plan. After all I usually have 3 or 4 work projects at any given time during trade show knitting period. End one begin the other with no rest between. Not even an overnight. Still thats the plan. Since trade show knitting is starting soon we shall see how deadlines influence the sock knitting. Have a great one you guys
Tag Archives: New England Socks
Spring Has Sprung
Happy Spring! Kinda chilly here and I believe others are suffering from cold weather but still its spring. My favorite season-flowers, sun, and usually warming temps. Not much knitting to report over the weekend. Last weds[yes St Patrick’s Day] was my 9th anniversary so we spent Saturday and Sunday being couple-y. I did manage to just finish my sock. Yes its true. I am 1/14th the way through the annual 7 pairs goal. Actually I am not really through since I still need to sew in many many yarn ends and wash. But hey its picturable. The reason I had so many yarn ends is: my Koigu had 4, yes 4, very weak areas where only a few fibers were holding everything together. So far I am not overly impressed with Koigu quality controls. Still I hold out hope that this was a fluke. The sock took just under 1 hank of yarn. Just a foot or so left over. Mind you I have very short and wide feet. The pattern is New England Socks from Nancy Bush’s Knitting on the Road. I modified it slightly: short row heels and toes ala PGR. I am thinking that short rowing the heel requires one to knit less foot length. Any sock pros out there know the answer? The pattern calls for 7 diamonds, which I dutifully knit, but my feet only needed 5.5 diamonds. I was ripping out the weekends knitting at 1 am and did the toe this morning. Anyway back to my short row causing less in the round post heel knitting required theory. I checked Folk Socks by NB and she states that for the peasant heel[the closest possible one listed being done post sock knitting and using a contrasting yarn knit in accross heel sts] that the avg foot requires 4″ between contrasting thread and toe shaping. Since the avg foot, per her patterns, seems to be 7.5″ and one starts the toe 2″ prior to that…? Has anybody fallen so in love with a pattern that they knit it using a regular heel flap and then again with the short rowed heel? If so speak up.
The Weekend Report
Can you tell I have been listening to The Lion King CD? And that I am tired. No zippy quip-y post today. Assuming you have found me quip-y and zippy or you wouldn’t return. Saturday began as all weekends should: darlingest hubby sent me off to shop for clothing. What does this have to do with knitting you ask? Simple. The reason I have little to no clothing is because I augment my yarn shopping monies with clothing monies. A visit to the yarn store, after all, yields a pair of socks in the making , a hat and glove set in the making, a cardigan in the making. You get the picture. I got 3 pairs of slacks and 2 pullovers. I almost bought a sweater. Horrors! The knitter in me balks at purchasing anything which could be handknit. Can you tell we are cold over here? I did not get socks, hat, gloves, or sweater even though I have been shoveling snow and scraping ice off my car onto my nekkid within clogs feet, with bare hands, and red ears. I needed some clothes and I need to start clicking.
After shopping I went to the GSLKG thats Greater St Louis Knitter’s Guild for those who have no clue where I live. Its the largest knitting guild in the country. Unless you count something like TKGA. I went to meet Rebekah. I met her via the net and when she discovered I lived in St Louis she offered to meet me there with information on the upcoming Lucy Neatby workshop. It was a very nice visit through a very boring meeting. I worked on finishing up the baby bunting pictured yesterday and on my shawl. After the meeting I came home and worked on the kimono, also pictured yesterday, until it was time to go out with my hottie husband.
Sunday and Monday were spent working on the replacement to Kimono WIP the baby poncho. Not to sound like a broken record but …. pictured yesterday. I also worked on my shawl. 4957 sts later[thats the last 7 rounds] I am now ready for attaching the edging. I am guesstimating 1440 edging rowlets. I wish *my* hubby gave me a penny per stitch…
Having gotten to a nice stopping row on the shawl I pulled out my sock and after an inch or two found an error way way back. I spent 2 hours trying to correct it by dropping down the offending 4 sts and reknitting them. Over and over and over again til finally my little bamboo needles splintered and started fraying my koigu. Then I finally gave up the ghost and ripped back beyond what was pictured on the 5th. I would say the top of 2nd diamond. This led me to stay up way beyond my bedtime making progress on the sock.
Does the time spent reworking 4 freaking sts worry you? Especially in conjuncture with the comment yesterday about colors pooling? yeah I am a fussy knitter. And really I don’t care if it makes me seem anal. In my book knitting is a simple task. I would go as far as saying tieing shoes takes more fine motor skills than knitting. Of course I am a thrower and make a wide sweaping arm movement instead of flicking of fingers but still its not that difficult. This is not meant to offend anybody who has difficulty knitting. And I am not speaking of working with many colors or working into rows below or twisted knitting or dicifering poorly drafted instructions any other specialized type of knitting. I am speaking of the actual knit and purl movements. Which kinda brings me back to why I won’t purchase handknittable garments. Knitting is, in my mind, a matter of choices. Its certainly not frugal to knit a pair of socks when a half dozen can be purchased for a piddly $5 at target. But by knitting I have a limitless choice of self expression. Color, pattern, size and choice of techniques utilized. I’m gonna be fussy and I hope you are fussy as well.